Cardinals Moving in Rare Direction: Up

Ira Miller

Published
4:00 am PDT, Saturday, May 8, 1999

THESE ARE words you thought you would never read. But the Arizona Cardinals suddenly are evolving into, if not exactly a model franchise for the rest of the NFL, at least an organization that has a plan and a direction.

Nothing is forever, but the Cardinals have been wandering in the wilderness for a long time. This week, they rewarded the man who engineered the turnaround, Bob Ferguson, by naming him as the team's general manager.

Through the years, the Cardinals rarely had a general manager because the owner, Bill Bidwill, made all the major decisions. Or, if he didn't, one of his sons did. The Cardinals were a family-run operation, but it was a dysfunctional family. When they beat the Cowboys in January, it was their first playoff victory in 51 years.

That was a lot of history to overcome. But Ferguson was the perfect guy for the situation. He's persistent: He talked his way into pro football in the '70s when, working as a bartender at a Seattle restaurant, he used to stop by the offices of the expansion Seahawks and ask about a job. A secretary eventually gave up trying to turn him away and put him to work handling the mail. And he has been through turnarounds before.

"It takes a lot of effort mentally," Ferguson said. "People have to be convinced of change. They've been doing things for so long the same way that it's really hard to change."

Ferguson could write a book on NFL turnaround franchises.

In Seattle, where he started, the expansion stocking consisted mostly of the waiver wire, players unwanted by other teams. There was no free agency in those days. He got to Dallas in the mid-'80s as the Cowboys were beginning to disintegrate near the end of the Tom Landry years. He was assistant general manager in Buffalo during the building of the Bills' four Super Bowl teams. And he spent three years in Denver, the last under Mike Shanahan as the Broncos began building toward the Super Bowl.

"Denver was far worse than (the Cardinals), talent-wise, but they had a winning attitude to a large extent," Ferguson said.

Arizona's turnaround began two years ago when it drafted Jake Plummer, and Ferguson convinced Bidwill, who did not have a good record at re-signing his players, to re- sign defensive pillars Eric Swann and Aeneas Williams.

Then, set at quarterback, the Cardinals were able to engineer a draft trade in 1998 that allowed them to select the player they wanted (defensive end Andre Wadsworth), and get an extra first-round pick plus two other players. They had a winning record for the first time in 14 years.

And this year's draft, which produced wide receiver David Boston and offensive tackle L. J. Shelton in the first round, was considered excellent.

With the Cardinals, there also was an image to overcome. Bidwill is popular with other owners around the NFL, but he is viewed as something of an eccentric bumbler. His team had the same reputation.

The Cards kept going through coaches and quarterbacks. Free agency was no bargain for them, either, because the Cardinals are tenants of Arizona State (they face a stadium referendum in Arizona on May 18), so they don't have the stadium cash flow that some teams have.

Because of their poor cash flow, the Cardinals have a reputation as difficult to deal with at contract time. They don't offer incentives or voidable contracts, two methods used to circumvent the salary cap.

They do have good weather and a good grass field going for them, but all that did was generally make them a second or third choice for free agents -- a fallback position for players if they couldn't get what they wanted from a team of their choice.

"To say it was a challenge was probably an understatement," Ferguson said.

Other teams in the NFL have benefited through the years from the Cardinals' mismanagement. The 49ers, for example, have two key starters who spent the early years of their careers with Arizona: safety Tim McDonald and guard Ray Brown. But now, the Cardinals are an early favorite in the NFC East. And, with Plummer at quarterback for the long term, the future looks good in Arizona -- provided the Cardinals get enough votes in 10 days to assure they have a future there.